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| 4/8/15 India ink, dip pen, Bristol paper |
Value, value, value: Just about every art class I’ve taken
or technique book I’ve read has emphasized the importance of seeing and
accurately conveying values. Yesterday afternoon I took a three-hour “Drawing in
Ink” class at Gage Academy, and its
focus was no different.
Mixing varying dilutions of India ink, we first used a
medium-sized sumi brush to apply washes of ink to the paper, attempting to
reproduce the values in photocopied works by masters. Instructor Eric Elliott
advised us to squint and look only at the large shapes – not the details.
(That’s advice I’ve heard in every watercolor sketching class I’ve taken!) Once
all the values were sufficiently reproduced, we used a dip pen with India ink
to draw in details. The point of the fine ink work was to help define the forms
– not to outline the shapes already put in with washes.
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| Sketch of the David by Raphael |
My first exercise was a Rembrandt painting, which I found
relatively easy to reproduce because it had only a few values. The second was a
portion of another painting (by some other long-dead master whom I’ve now forgotten.
. . sorry) that I found more challenging because it had a wider range of
values.
The third exercise was practicing hatching techniques by
copying a sketch of Michelangelo’s David by Raphael (I started the exercise in
class and finished today at home). Examining Raphael’s work, it was fascinating
to see how the hatch marks were not random scratches; to the contrary, the
lengths and curvature of the marks identified and shaped the forms. Eric warned
us that if we got carried away with hatching, David’s smooth form would end up
looking too hairy! (Unfortunately, he did start getting a bit hairy in my
rendition, so I quickly decided it was time to stop.)
Some students seemed to find the hatching exercise tedious
and tiring, but it was my favorite. Although I’m not a huge fan of traditional
dip pens (gimme a fountain pen over a dip pen any day!), I have to say I
thoroughly enjoyed the class – both the ink washes to create values and the
tedious pen hatching.
Although I can’t see myself using dip pens with bottled ink
while sketching on location, I’ve heard the value-value-value
mantra often enough to know that whatever I learn from these sink techniques can
be applied to any medium, and my sketches will be better for it.
Gage offers a variety of three-hour “quick start” classes
like this one to give students an opportunity to try a small tasting of a
particular medium or technique before committing to a full course. (Another one
I took was “The Quick Sketch” in January.)
I guess the strategy works: I immediately signed up for the full 10-week
course, which begins next week!
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| 4/7/15 India ink, dip pen, sumi brush, Bristol |
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| Original painting by Rembrandt |
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| 4/7/15 India ink, dip pen, sumi brush, Bristol |
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| Original painting |
Wonderful way of adding values to a sketch. I love your hatching in the sketch of David. The long lines are perfect for the long contours on the legs and thigh. Sounds like a wonderful class...one that can be applied to any subject.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Joan! The long lines were really hard to do and still look fluid rather than stilted. Studying the original carefully makes me realize why Raphael is a master. ;-)
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